Author Archives: 40andover

Take that Bubba — Webb visits Suu Kyi and gets a Stupid American released

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Uh oh.  There is a throw-down happening between between Bubba Clinton and all other politicians and ambassadors.  Sen. Webb, a decorated veteran, went to Burma and freed an idiotic American.  (If he was a US government operative, then we should save him.)

More importantly he spoke to Suu Kyi who is the democratically elected leader of Burma and has been prevented from governing by the oppressive military regime.  Ok, a publicity stunt for the military regime.

Americans have many freedoms.  One is to be as stupid as you want.  But don’t expect the government to intercede when you swim into Burma to see Suu Kyi who was already under house arrest and ruled by an oppressive regime.  All this American did was cause more problems for Suu Kyi and our government. The US government shouldn’t use its diplomatic capital to help this stupid guy whose only goal was a “scoop” and the fame it would bring him.  I think Sen. Webb was wrong.

Stupidity at this level should be a felony.

 

updated 27 minutes ago — Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar – U.S. Sen. Jim Webb won the release Saturday of an American prisoner convicted in Myanmar and sentenced to seven years in prison for swimming secretly to the residence of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the senator’s office said.

During his visit to Myanmar — the first by a member of the U.S. Congress in more than a decade — the senator also secured a rare visit with Suu Kyi, who was convicted along with Yettaw and sentenced to 18 more months of house arrest.

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Kiss today goodbye

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Today:

in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act.  This was a day of celebration for my grandfather who grew up in Czarist Russia and came of age during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

In 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, ending World War II.

In 1980, Lech Walesa led workers on a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, leading to the creation of the Solidarity labor movement.

In 2009, Barack Obama, our President, goes to Montana to fight for affordable health care.

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Bernie, Bernie, Bernie — a mistress, yet?

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The only thing that made you less despicable than the worst human ever was that you seemed to be a good husband who protected your wife and possible co-conspirator.  This was your only redemptive quality. It elevated you from crook to thief.

Ok, Bernie.  Look at you.  It wasn’t your good looks or witty repartee that landed you a mistress.  You are a shlub.  But you had a lot of other people’s money.  And for a long time, it bought you a mirror that when you looked in it, Superman looked back.

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Writer – 8/14/09

NEW YORK – Bernard Madoff‘s decades-long fraud might not have been his only secret. A new book says he had a two-decade affair with one of his investors.

That’s in a memoir by Sheryl Weinstein titled “Madoff’s Other Secret: Love, Money, Bernie, and Me.” It goes on sale Aug. 25.

A spokesman for book publisher St. Martin’s Press said Friday the relationship between Weinstein and Madoff spanned more than 20 years. Both were married.

Madoff is serving 150 years in prison for defrauding investors. Weinstein says she met him when she was chief financial officer for the charitable women’s organization Hadassah.

Madoff attorney Ira Sorkin says he hopes the author “was more discreet with her investment obligations than she has allegedly been with her sex life.”

An attorney for Madoff’s wife, Ruth Madoff, says his client didn’t know about the “alleged affair.”

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Another GOP protest instigator gets caught

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Dick Armey hasn’t used his given name, Richard, in a long time because, well, Dick really fits the man he is.

Let’s see, he is stoking and organizing faux protesters to spread baseless rumors and instill fear of health care reform in order to serve the health care industry.  Well, I am not going to quarrel with his not using Richard.

From Politico:

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) is resigning from DLA Piper law firm amid a wave of negative attention his grassroots organization, Freedom Works, has drawn for helping to organize protesters at health care town hall meetings with members of Congress.

In an interview with POLITCO Armey said that he was concerned about the media scrutiny the health care protests were drawing to the firm he has been associated with since retiring from Congress.

On Aug. 7 MSNBC host Rachel Maddow raised questions about the law firm’s potential role in the protests.

“In addition to fronting [FreedomWorks], Dick Armey is a senior policy adviser at a law firm called DLA Piper. DLA Piper just happens to have received $830,000 this year, so far, from a giant pharmaceutical firm called Medicines Company. This after the $1.5 million Medicines Company paid Mr. Armey’s firm last year.

“The fact that Dick Armey and FreedomWorks are standing alongside regular Joes like Rick Scott to lead the charge against health care reform could be just a coincidence. Or it could be a stark reminder of who we’re dealing with here. Who is actively organizing the campaign against health care reform? Scaring real Americans with increasingly paranoid and kooky lies about health care and then providing a script for how to express that fear.”

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Kym Kardashian?

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Ok, I am a little behind on the latest Reality (which is, as Lily Tomlin said, for people who can’t deal with drugs).  I thought the Kardashians were an alien species on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Since there was a Star Trek craze this summer (spring?), it seemed on-the-edge of reasonable.

So, now I know they have nothing to do with Star Trek, although the little I have read about them suggests that they are IN FACT an alien species.

I don’t need to watch someone else’s reality.  Mine is hard enough to follow.

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Lynette Squeaky Fromme

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The only reason to feel sorry for this Charles Manson follower and would-be assassinator of our then President Ford, is that she is 60 years old and STILL she is called Squeaky.  Is Lynette such a bad name?

Do you think she is different now?  It is hard to imagine a 60 year-old Manson follower.  It is like imagining your grandparents’ having sex.  But not as gross.  Eeewww.   Eeeeewwww.  I need to stop now.

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The reason why I watch Jon Stewart

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Dan Rather wrote a book entitled, “The Camera Never Blinks”.  Now, with the Internet, nothing is ever lost.

Last night, Jon Stewart showed Glenn Beck railing against the health care system when he was a CNN host and now saying that health care is awesome as a FOX News host.  During Glenn’s time at CNN, he experienced the health care system first hand, with a botched hemorrhoid procedure.  Hypocrisy revealed.

Jon Stewart took aim at Hillary Clinton’s outburst and Blagojevich’s downfall, so he is not a Democratic partisan hack.  In fact, I understand that he would have voted for McCain in 2000.  But let’s face it, Republicans are doing such stupid things these days that dumb Democrats rarely get any coverage.

I know, I know, Jon Stewart is just a comedian.  A political satirist.  And so funny.

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Health Care Lobbyists on Capitol Hill

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According to Bloomberg, there are FIVE lobbyists for every one member of Congress and the ratio is growing.  These lobbyists fall along the entire health care spectrum.

The burning question is:  Is this our legislative body or an episode of HBO’s Entourage?

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Reckless Indifference to the Truth

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If Sarah Palin believed what she says, then, ok, people can disagree on things. 

End of life issues are difficult, emotionally, culturally, religiously and not for the undecisive. 

But unless Sarah Palin wants to explain in Kerry-like fashion how she was for it before she was against it, I think she is just using anything to burnish her image as the true neo-con leader for 2012.

Why? because a Google search shows the text of her proclamation supporting end of life and quality of life decision-making:

spacerState of Alaska > Governor > Proclamations > Proclamations Archive

Healthcare Decisions Day  Print Now Printer Friendly

WHEREAS, Healthcare Decisions Day is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions.

WHEREAS, in Alaska, Alaska Statute 13.52 provides the specifics of the advance directives law and offers a model form for patient use.  

WHEREAS, it is estimated that only about 20 percent of people in Alaska have executed an advance directive. Moreover, it is estimated that less than 50 percent of severely or terminally ill patients have an advance directive.

WHEREAS, it is likely that a significant reason for these low percentages is that there is both a lack of knowledge and considerable confusion in the public about Advance Directives.

WHEREAS, one of the principal goals of Healthcare Decisions Day is to encourage hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, and hospices to participate in a statewide effort to provide clear and consistent information to the public about advance directives, as well as to encourage medical professionals and lawyers to volunteer their time and efforts to improve public knowledge and increase the number of Alaska’s citizens with advance directives.

WHEREAS, the Foundation for End of Life Care in Juneau, Alaska, and other organizations throughout the United States have endorsed this event and are committed to educating the public about the importance of discussing healthcare choices and executing advance directives.

WHEREAS, as a result of April 16, 2008, being recognized as Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, more citizens will have conversations about their healthcare decisions; more citizens will execute advance directives to make their wishes known; and fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the state of Alaska, do hereby proclaim April 16, 2008, as:

Healthcare Decisions Day in Alaska, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.

Dated: April 16, 2008

The only thing being murdered is the truth.

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Cheney is writing a tell-all book

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Wow, isn’t he the man who believed in secrets and disparaged those former insiders who wrote books about their time in government? 

Actually, it makes sense in Cheney-think. 

Rules don’t apply to the self-anointed Nietzsche uber-mensch, except that Cheney has all of the hubris of the “overman” but lacks the essential element of one who risks all for the sake of enhancement of humanity.  (Hint: waterboarding doesn’t advance humanity.)

In real-world-think, he is just another egomaniacal hack.

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